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TVboy86 — Nolanverse: The Riddler
Published: 2009-03-23 16:04:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 6180; Favourites: 9; Downloads: 7
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Things to remember when adapting batman villains for the NolanverseTHE RIDDLER
Firstly, yes he and the Joker have a lot in common, mainly because of their
themes; jokes and riddles. Both have a steep history of oral presentation and
philosophical subtext for educational purposes; not to mention a love of wordplay
and puns. That is why Joker and Riddler are presented as the showmen they are
today, because a joke or riddle isn’t a true one unless it’s verbally told from one to
another. But as far as their character, the Riddler is vastly different from the Joker
in terms of their beliefs. The Riddler is proud of his orderly logic and intellect;
viewing life as a puzzle that his brilliant mind has already solved and dares others
to do the same. The Riddler represents a sort of fascism and what could happen
to Batman if he goes too far on imposing his beliefs in his war on crime. On the
other hand, the Joker is proud of his insanity and of the irrationality of his crimes;
he believes that life has no meaning. Both represent a fear people have of the
unknown future and what it brings, but the Riddler forces people to push
themselves to stare into the dark abyss. Some step up to meet the challenge, like
Batman, others run in terror; unable to face THE ultimate truth. So how do we
bring him into the Nolanverse? My suggestions… one- make him an entity (like
how the Joker was the new Face of crime in the Dark Knight, the Riddler can be
the new Voice of crime, heard everywhere but never seen), two- make him tech
savvy (he knows everything about computers and hacking; also because the Joker
was not so knowledgeable about such things so that separates them even more),
three- keep his big ego (he does believe that he is the smartest man on earth
after all), four- make him political (his riddles and puzzles can have a more
metaphorical meaning for life lessons if he holds either positive or negative views
of politics and politicians and/or supports revolution). His site is found here for the
mindless ones-(mindlessones.com/2008/07/05/ro…
riddler/). If you have any ideas about The Riddler that you would like to share,
feel free to comment.
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Comments: 8
I see Riddler as a blackmailer. Gotham is already overrun with killers, thieves, gangsters and rapists, he needs to be able to distinguish himself.
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I think the Riddler would be likely to play both sides against the middle. First; if one person at Wayne Enterprises figured out Bruce Wayne is Batman why can't two? My premise for the Riddler is simple. He idolizes Batman because Batman represents the pinacle of human perfection; he knows Batman is Bruce Wayne but doesn't act on this fact. Then Bruce takes the fall for Two-Face; needless to say Edward Nygma is pissed. Batman lied to cover a two bit thug? Not in his world. The Riddler then takes things into his own hands and becomes a threat to Batman by..........Helping the police. His real point is to get the truth out of Batman so in secret he sends him riddles to try and weedle out the truth. I kind of like the idea of him as a serial killer coming in at the tale end just like it did with Two-Face; so for instance Gordon slides all of Mr. Nygma's annonymous tips under the rug and that causes the other main villain (Either Bane or someone cooler) to recruit Edward Nygma as an intelligence officer. The big bad also wants Batman weakened; thus he sends The Riddler out to kill those the Bat has been close to. No one huge like Gordon or Lucius or Alfred but little people like Judges and supermodels and colleagues in the buisiness world. You see the Riddler can't take Batman down alone and whoever the next big bad is will be smart enough to know Batman must be weakened psychologically before he can be attacked physically. Sorry if that made no sense.
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I've always thought Azula was more like the Riddler than the Joker. She believes she is perfect, that no one is better than her, that she is without blemishes, and that that is the way it is supposed to be. Which carries with it her belief in royal order and law. She also has a massive amount of pride.
The finale merely showed her in a hysterical, "I finally beat him!" sort of craze that she more or less recovered from by the time she tried to take out Katara over the sewer grate.
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Very interesting. I have to agree with you on a lot of these points. I however have written the Riddler as more obsessive. I haven't exactly made him incredibly OCD, but I've taken his compulsion to tell the truth to the point where he abhors liars. So he uses his intellect to become a detective, and when he finds out that his idol, James Gordon, has been lying to the city about Harvey Dent, he snaps and takes things into his own hands by becoming the Riddler. He embraces the Joker's advice to introduce a little anarchy, but he does it in an ordered fashion. He leaves riddles to his crimes, he has a plan. He is very specifically targeting Batman. He doesn't necessarily want to hurt people, but he sees crime as necessary in a bizzare way. As a strange way to cleanse Gotham of the lies of Gordon and Batman. Not so much crime itself, but the idea that he's calling them out and humiliating them.
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I agree. I think he'd have to be a little OCD in his methodology in order to be the Riddler. The point I was trying to make was setting him up as the anti-Joker while balancing his connection to Batman as his shadow as well as his opposite at the same time.
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